


Scheming and Pack Politics

by coplins



Series: Packrunners [17]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Animal Traits, Animalistic, M/M, Pack Bonding, Scents & Smells, Scheming, misgivings, shifting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-01
Updated: 2018-02-01
Packaged: 2019-03-12 02:06:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13537392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coplins/pseuds/coplins
Summary: Sam spends a lot of time with Raphael. Raphael decides to show him something private.





	Scheming and Pack Politics

**Author's Note:**

> This is something of a Q&A based on your comments throughout the series. :)

* * *

Sam follows Raphael through the corridor towards Raphael’s office. He knows Dean’s not here this late in the day but he's still on his guard, not wanting his brother to catch him while Raphael shows him around and tells him about the company. He’d found it peculiar that Dean could work here, cleaning their offices, without knowing their names. But all offices are marked only by an initial and surname, same down in the lobby where there’s this huge board with initials and surnames sorted by floor plan. When they got here Raphael rubbed a finger against his temple then dragged his finger over his name on the board. There’s one of these boards on every floor but then only containing the name and the room number of those who have offices on the floor. It makes it easy to find the room just by sniffing the board. It also indicates how long ago someone marked themselves as present. It’s perfect. **  
**

Unless you're noseblind.

Raphael told him the room numbers had been added for his benefit - before there had just been names and scent to go by. Sam suggested they should put pictures of everyone on the board downstairs too. Raphael hadn’t thought of that and it made Sam proud to see Raphael’s veiled delight at the suggestion.

Sam stops dead when they’re about to turn a corner and he suddenly can smell Dean. But the man coming around the corner isn’t Dean. Sam, completely befuddled, steps out right in front of him to stop him. The man sucks in a startled breath through his nose, then relaxes with a pleasant little smirk on his face. Before Sam has stopped to think he’s bent down to scent the man’s neck without as much as a hello. He smells like Dean. _Only_ like Dean. But not like Dean himself would, not exactly. There are faint traces of hair and skin and Omega marker that just don’t smell personal in any way, but Dean’s scent sticks to him as if he’s bonded. Sam rubs his temple against the guy’s neck without a moment of hesitation.

“Sam? Dick? Either of you care to explain what’s going on?” Raphael asks sternly, bringing Sam back to reality. His actions had been beyond rude.

“Oh. Um,” he flusters and takes a step back looking first at Raphael, then at the slick looking man. “Sorry. I―”

“Sam Winchester. A pleasure to finally meet you. Dean’s told me so much about you,” the man says, offering a hand to shake. “My name’s Richard Roman. But please. Call me Dick,” Roman purrs with a pleasant smile.

The name clicks into place. Dick, the scentless Omega. Dean has told Sam about him. The notes of bonding in his current scent are confusing, though. “Hi. Um. Welcome to the pack,” Sam says with a tentative smile, utterly bewildered.

“Dick! What did you do?” Raphael asks, scowling now with eyes narrowed suspiciously.

“I didn’t do anything. Dean simply offered to help me battle my depression,” Dick explains innocently.

“You’re not depressed,” Raphael states flatly.

“Not _now_ , I’m not. Thanks to Dean and now his kind brother Sam,” Dick tells Raphael with an amused glint in his eyes. He looks back at Sam. “And since you’re here, I might as well inform you that Dean won’t be coming home tomorrow night as he’ll be staying with me. You’re also invited if you’d like to join us, but I’ll take a guess and say you’re going to be busy.” He side-eyes Raphael pointedly then winks at Sam. “Now if you excuse me, gentlemen. I have a meeting with Lucifer to negotiate a raise. Have a nice evening,” he says and gives them a friendly smile with shrewd eyes before he continues walking.

“That sly piece of―” Raphael mutters, looking after him. He turns to Sam. “Did I understand it correctly, he’d formed a scent bond with your brother?”

“Yes. Is there something wrong?”

Raphael drags a hand over his face and shakes his head, seemingly thinking hard. “No. You marked him up because he smells like pack?”

“Yeah. Look. Dean's never mentioned making him part of our pack but he smells like it. Is it bad? Isn't he a good person or something?”

“What? Oh. No, there's nothing wrong with him except that he's both manipulative and smart.” Raphael puts a hand on the small of Sam's back and guides him along. “By now I reckon Dean and Luci are about to be used as pawns in a lovers’ feud. And don't worry. I use the term ‘used’ lightly. Dick scratches back if you scratch his back. If I hadn't seen your brother's test scores I'd have thought Dick was giving him a leg up in thanks.”

“Thanks for what?”

Raphael chuckles and leads Sam into a big corner office. “Well, for starters, if he smells bonded to Dean Luci will doubtlessly give him the raise he's after.”

“But I thought you’re the head of HR? And Dean said Dick works in HR. Shouldn't he be negotiating his raise with _you_?”

“Technically, yes. But either one of us can do it and since Dick is as much a friend of the family as an employee, I'm not putting a stop to this. Plus,” Raphael lowers his voice conspiratorially, “Luci hates Dick's mate Crowley with a passion and they both work for the law department. Dick keeps pitting them against each other which is highly entertaining. But don't tell my brothers I said so.”

“Mate? He didn't smell mated.”

“No. Scent bonds don't stick for very long to him. His mate will be back on Monday. I bet Dean's scent both on Dick and in their home when he comes back will make all hell break loose.” Raphael looks downright gleeful about it.

“And that won’t be bad for Dean?”

“Doubtfully. Crowley is a smart man. When he realises Dean’s being courted by us he’d be shooting himself in the foot if he tries anything. What I find interesting and suspicious is that you said Dick smells like pack. To my knowledge Dick’s a Conservative, although, he probably falls under the category unaffiliated, come to think of it. I’ve read that there are subtle differences in a pack bond and a singular bond. Is that true? You know I can’t―” Raphael taps the tip of his nose with a regretful grimace.

“Yeah. To an extent. I’ve never had any problem discerning the difference when it comes to my own pack. Like when dad got mated. The first times I met Kate and her son Adam I could smell that dad had marked them. But it was more like, ‘okay, they’re dad’s’. But then one day they came around and smelled like they were mine too, you know? I can’t describe the difference because it’s so subtle. But, like, I can’t tell for sure that you’re packbonded with your siblings, only that you are bonded to them. But being bonded could just be a thing of frequent affectional marking. Like if you live or work close to your family or friends and greet them with a hug and a quick temple rub every day. It doesn’t have to mean pack. It made me really confused when I was younger. Nowadays it’s always safest to assume it _isn’t_ a pack bond. Especially here in the city. Both Omegas and Alphas move out from their families and don’t move very far, from what I’ve noted.” Sam looks around while he talks, curious about Raphael’s office. Raphael had shown him Michael’s office on the way here and this is a lot smaller, albeit still bigger than other offices in the building. Raphael listens keenly to him, which feels good. Dean will listen too, but with Dean it’s more like putting an info dump in storage. Raphael listens as if he wants to do something with what Sam’s telling him.

“And Dick didn’t just smell like he belonged to Dean? He smelled specifically like pack?”

“Yeah.” It’s what had made Sam add his own marking without a thought.

“Hmm. I wonder what his angle is? Dick would be fully aware of the difference and it wouldn’t be an accident when he’s involved.”

“Dude. Couldn’t he just be depressed? Dean lost his scent when Cas died.”

“Sam, Dick was _born_ without a scent. I’ve never seen him even show a hint of depression and I’ve known him for more than a decade. It’s different.”

Sam frowns in frustration. “Yeah, but. What if it isn’t? Look. Hear me out, okay? What if, Dick was born with this handicap, just like you, right? And maybe it’s the same function that made Dean lose his scent, only in reverse? Like, he gets depressed _because_ he doesn’t have a scent. But since he’s born with it he’s learned to live with chronic depression, and, and,” Sam gestures with his hands while he speaks,” anytime he is marked up by someone, he gets a dose of the antidote, right? Like Dean didn’t die from mourning because we kept marking him up obsessively. So get this. You said that sometimes it feels like people are screaming behind your back and you can’t hear it, because you can’t smell them and pick up that part of the language, right? Because, like, for most of us it’s _vital_ , and, and, a lot of our daily communication is done by scent. So, like, for Dick it’s the other way around. He’d be screaming at the world and nobody can hear him, right? Like, if you _could_ smell his emotions, maybe you’d notice the chronic depression underneath. But you can’t. You only see his smile. So while it’d be practical for him if he needs to lie, nobody would ever be able to see that he needs help when he needs it, right? He’d be constantly lonely. Just because you’ve learned to live with it and are used to it, doesn’t mean it isn’t a problem.” Sam’s working himself up talking and gesturing while Raphael listens with a troubled expression.

“Hmm. I’ve never thought of that. Dick says he isn’t depressed when asked, but when you put it that way… He always had a tendency to get himself marked up by people before he got mated to Crowley. We used to joke about him becoming that person. And he also tends to be extra scheming when Crowley is out of town for long stretches of time.”

Sam looks at the door they’d closed behind them. Part of him wants to go after the man Dean had deemed to mark so thoroughly. _Claimed_. Ask Dick if he’s alright, and if there’s anything Sam can do to help him. “It must have been hard for him. He must be able to feel scent attraction just like anyone else, but nobody would be feeling it for him. Just think about it. Like, you’ve been looking for a male Omega for your pack, and he’s been right under your nose and maybe would have been a viable option. But you’d not see him. I don’t mean _you_ specifically, but all of you.”

“He’s not a Packrunner, Sam.”

“But right now he smells like one.” Sam snipes then looks back at Raphael. “Sorry. I mean, if anyone would benefit from having several mates it’d someone like him. How does scentlessness work anyway? Like with Dean. How did he lose his scent when he was depressed? It must be the same function, mustn’t it? That somehow backfired and got stuck on Dick?”

“I don’t know. I’ve read a lot about noseblindness for obvious reasons. But apart from learning that someone in mourning might lose their scent, I’ve never wondered about the how’s of that. I’ll check if we have any books on that at home. But come. I have something I want to show you.” Raphael gestures for him to a door on the wall behind his desk. There’s a sign on it that says ‘storage’, but Raphael takes his keychain from his pocket and unlocks, and inside there is something else entirely, explaining why his office is smaller than Michael's. “I get tired sometimes. After tense meetings where there have been many strong emotions in play and all of them have been hidden in scent so I have to keep hyper focused to pick up on them through body language. Or when I’ve had to fire people, or deal with harassment and bullying… I come here then, to take an undisturbed break. Sort of a happy place for relaxation? And nevermind the dust in the corners. I clean this room myself because I don’t want anyone in here without my explicit invitation.”

Sam steps inside the room. It’s not big. It has a bed along one wall and a very comfy looking armchair with a footstool in one corner. There are bookshelves that only reach to hip height along the walls, and that’s it, not counting the lamps. But there are framed photos on the walls and on top of the bookshelves. The room has a nice, relaxing ambience. “It’s nice. Who are the people on the photos?”

Raphael smiles broadly. “My pack and family.”

“Bu...but they’re all white?” Sam asks in befuddlement.

Raphael sniggers, puts his arms around Sam from behind and rests his chin on Sam’s shoulder. “Recessive genes. We’re all very different. You're not disappointed about that, are you? Wanted a whole pack full of dark beauty?”

Sam laughs awkwardly. “What? No. I just assumed… no. It's first and foremost my nose that decides who I'm attracted to. I've never given skin colour much thought.” He smirks and looks down at the floor. “But I admit. I find the contrast of our skin hot,” he mumbles shyly. It's almost become a kink and it all has to do with how he feels for Raphael. He'd felt something similar about Brady's blond hair if not nearly as strongly. The whole contrast thing, that makes his partner differ from him. It’s visually very arousing to him. He’s not in the vicinity of Dean when it comes to how liberally he’s drawn to the divergent. The other day Dean presented him with the supposed Siberian’s scent and Sam kept coming up with a mental stop sign no matter how much he scented Dean. It could be prejudiced bias based on what Sam knows about the species, but to him the scent was just too foreign. In bed later, after they’d had bonding sex (Dean was surprisingly needy for it) Sam had laid rested on top of Dean, head on his chest, and Dean had done his damnest trying to sell Sasha like an awesome guy. Sam had said ‘Dean. If he’s truly a Siberian, he’s barely a step up from being an animal.’ That had prompted Dean to do the biggest shift Sam’s ever seen him do unnecessarily. Before Sam knew it, Dean had furred. And not only the short fur Sam had seen on him before, but a full pelt. The length of the hairs about the same as on a labrador. Sam had fucking gasped. Looking up at his brother’s face words stuck in his throat as Dean had shifted cheekbones, nose ridge and mouth area too. Not a lot, but enough to make him look inhuman and drive home the point Dean verbalised. ‘So are we, Sammy.’

The day after Dean had a killer migraine due to the cranial shift he’d done. Sam’s been practising pelting in front of a mirror several times since then. Taking it beyond the super short hairs he’d been born with had been hard at first, but after the fifth or sixth time he’d done it he too had managed to fur a good pelt. It blows Sam’s mind at the same time as it makes him feel uncomfortable about himself. Embracing the thought of himself as an animal doesn’t come easy, but he’s gagging to find out how many other can do this, and why nobody ever does?

“I find everything about you hot,” Raphael murmurs into his ear, jarring him out of his peevish thinking. “And I’d like to show you how hot I find you. But I’d also like to show you my family, since you asked earlier.”

Sam's heart flutters. He smiles. “I, uh, I'd like both. But can we start with your family before I get sidetracked? Like, who is that guy?” Sam points to a picture of a smiling man with a short beard and the bluest eyes Sam's ever seen on anyone who isn't flaring.

“That's my Omega dad, Chuck Shurley. He died from complications when he gave birth to Gabe.”

“My mom died when giving birth to me too.”

“I know. And I'm sorry.”

“It's okay. It was harder for the rest of the family.”

“Mhm. I didn't really get a chance to get to know him like Mike and Luci did. Come. Look here.” Raphael leads him to the wall and points at a group photo of flaring people clad in war gear. They're all smiling. Chuck is amongst them, flaring golden. A tall, handsome man with a purple (rare colours seem to run in the family) flare has his arms around him. “That's my father, Marlon Williams. They met during the war when he and my uncle joined up as temporary siderunners to the Shurley pack. That's my uncle Aiden with the red flare. Back in those days he was our Patriarch. He's dead now. He died ten years ago. And that's my aunt Amara. She's an Alpha and she came with dad when he followed father home. She and father never really got along. She only stayed with us to nurse Gabe after dad's death. She comes to visit sometimes, though.”

“Wow. I've never seen a red flare outside of movies before. That's gorgeous! I love your pink flare, but there's just something special about a red flare, you know?”

Raphael smirks. “Indeed. Say, how would you feel about meeting one of my brothers tonight?”

“You know I'm working, Raff.”

“Oh, I know. I was thinking of asking Luci to meet me for a beer at Azazel’s but neglect to show up. You'll have to tell me how it went, but if I know my Luci you'll be firmly knotted by him after your shift. You _do_ like the feral way of flirting, right?”

“I think so? But…” Sam's heart flutters nervously. “But what if he doesn't like me?”

Raphael grins against the skin of his neck. “Don't worry. If anyone is going to dislike anyone it'll be you. Sometimes Omegas dislike his primal ways. But I don't think it will be a problem with you.”

“Probably not. Hey, so… um.”Sam reaches out to almost touch the group photo. “Marlon. Is he… is he nice? I know I'm gonna feel a compulsion to have sex with him once you and I are mated. But I, um, I admit I'm a bit nervous about your Patriarch. Mates you choose, Patriarchs you don't. I tried talking about this with Dean but he thinks I'm being silly. For him, if there's a compulsion, it's like, ‘Hell yeah!’ But I'm afraid I'm not gonna like him and it will feel bad even if my body is willing, you know?”

“It's not silly. The compulsion to be with the Main and Patriarch is one of the things Progs most often voice their disgust about, likening it to rape and slavery.”

“Rape? What's that?” Sam's relieved that _somebody_ takes his misgivings seriously, since Dean doesn't.

“Forced sexual interaction.” Raphael smiles. “It's a fairly new word. It's only been accepted into our dictionaries about a decade ago when the occurrence started being somewhat more common. It's funny, because the Progs are the ones most critical of instinct-driven Primal behavior, meaning that if it's instinct it's unequal and unfair. But rape almost exclusively occurs amongst Progs due to their widespread noseblindness blocking out Primal scent communication.”

“Huh. I didn't know that.” Sam finds it wildly fascinating and a bit scary. It's hard even to imagine an Alpha pushing for sex from someone unwilling.

“Mhm. But we're getting off topic. It's interesting that you brought it up because we had one of those situations in our pack. Dad didn't like Aiden very much and Amara wasn't fond of father. Dad only let Aiden mount him the minimum of times needed to secure a bond and only with a condom. He'd chosen Father to have his kits with and wouldn't let anything overrule that choice.

On top of that, Aiden only got to mount him when _dad_ initiated it. Then, after Aiden died, Father and Amara did their share of hate-banging. So I'd say, even when you feel a compulsion you will be able to resist it and dictate when, where, and if.”

“That's reassuring.”

“If you want you can choose to have it happen in a threesome or foursome. We all have bonding sex or get off with each other so if that'd make it easier for you…”

“Thanks. I don't think that'll be necessary but it's good to know it's an option.”

“The point of a pack is that nobody has to go through things alone. And, I hope it never comes to that, but if there truly isn’t any connection between the Omega and the Patriarch… it’s one of those things that may make an Omega wander.”

“But your dad and Aiden didn’t have a connection…?”

“Sure they did. They just had vastly different opinions on some key topics. Opinions Aiden shared with Amara but not with Father. Today our pack is much more cohesive in everything.”

“So… In theory, I should like your father…” Sam muses.

“I think so. I _hope_ so.”

Sam keeps staring at the picture of Aiden. Both Marlon and Aiden are handsome men, and Marlon’s purple eyes are very special, just like Raphael’s pink ones. But Aiden has _red_ eyes. “It’s a shame Marlon doesn’t have red eyes too. It’s so damned _hot_ ,” he muses.

Raphael chuckles in amusement and kisses his neck. “Couldn’t agree more,” he mumbles. It sounds like he finds it funny, almost like he’s making fun of Sam despite the words. But then he points on another group picture, this time of his brothers, showing Sam who is who and Sam lets it go. On top of that, the rule about no knotting in the workplace that almost got Dean in trouble? Apparently, when the head of HR is in his personal hideaway, he doesn’t care about that and the bed ends up getting used for something completely different than napping before Sam has to go to work…

* * *


End file.
